Metal stay and method of making the same



Feb. 26, 1929. 7 I 1,703,522

H. ESCOBALE$ METAL STAY AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Oct. 6, 1927 v I nwz/vral? i W/ zwass:

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Patented Feb. 26, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HILARION ESCOIBALES, OF TOMPKINSVILLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, TO HOWARD WOLF, BENJAMIN WOLF, ELIAS WOLF, LOUIS WOLF, AND ALBERT WOLF, ALL OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, DOING BUSINESS AS NATIONAL METAL EDGE BOX COMPANY.

METAL STAY AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed October 6, 1927. Serial No. 224,357.

My invention relates to an improved metal stay for joining the meeting edges of the sides of a box of paper or other material and to an improved method of making the same.

Heretofore it has been customary to feed to a box staying machine a continuous fiat strip of metal having prongs formed along ts longitudinal edges. The machine cuts off a suitable length of material to form a stay,

bends it into a shape suitable for application to the box, and clinches the prongs in the walls of a box which the operator has placed into the machine. The cutting is commonly done by a shearing blade having a V-shapcd notch therein. which notch has sharpened sides and cooperates with a straight ledger blade to sever the strip. Because of the shape of the cutting blade the outer portions of the strip are cut first and the cut proceeds inwardly,

the vertex of the notch accomplishing the last part of the cut-ting at a point intermediate the longitudinal edges of the strip. When a thin strip of metal is cut it is frequently noticed that, due to the fact that the portions of the strip on opposite sides of the out have moved relatively to each other, the portion of the metal lastgcut is bent out of the plane of the strip forming a sharp edge. In box staying machines this sharp edge is formed at a point in the cut edge of a stay-intermediate thelongitudinal edges thereof and is very objectionable since it is likely to scratch a person handling the box or polished furniture or to tear clothing.

In the case of a box having sides meeting at an angle Where they are secured by a metal stay, that portion of a transverse end of the stay at the vertex of the angle forms a slight projection liable to scratch objects, which projection cannot be satisfactorily-pressed into the box without cutting the box walls.

The objects of the present invention are, accordingly, the provision of a satisfactory stay and a method of making the same which will avoid the objections outlined above.

In the drawing, which shows a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 shows a box having the sides secured by the improved stay;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a metal strip from which stays may be cut;

3 isa section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and Flg. 4: 1s a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the strip bent for application to the right angular corner of a box.

Holes 8 are formed along the longitudinal center line of strip 2, each hole being formed intermediate adjacent pairs of opposed sets of prongs. Strip 2 is adapted to be transversely cut to form stays 10 through one of these holes, for example, on a line such as that indicated by section line 33 in Fig. 2. Ordinarily this cutting is accomplished by the sides of a V-shaped not-ch in a cutting blade and proceeds inwardly from the edges. Since the material is cut away at the hole 8 and this hole is arranged in the path of the vertex of the notch, the vertex does not cut any portion of the material and the formation of an ob jectionable sharp prong is avoided.

The stay 10 is bent along a longitudinal line as indicated in Fig. 4 and applied to the meeting edges of the sides of a paper box 12, and the prongs 6 are clinched therein to form a reinforced box edge. The holes 8 form depressions in the transverse edges 14, which edges are pressed inwardly into the box material to form smooth ends. In forming boxes with an angular corner it is desirable to have notches 8 directly over the corner thus avoiding the objectionable projecting angle usually formed.

While there is disclosed in Fig. 2 a strip having holes 8 disposed intermediate all adjacent pairs of opposed sets of prongs, it is clear that such holes need only be provided where it is desired to cut the strip. By providing the strip with holes as shown, however,

the same strip may be out to form a great variety of stays of different lengths to be applied to various sizes of boxes.

The shape of holes 8 may also be varied within the scope of this invention, and it will be seen that, although the invention is illustrated in connection with the manufacture of a box having angularly meeting sides, the invention is also applicable to the formation of stays which may be curved or straight in provision of the line of holes 8 extending along the longitudinal center of the strip is that the strip folds more readily and accurate ly along its center line when it is desired to apply it to an angular corner, owing to the fact that the strip is"'somewhat weakened along this line. I

What I claim as my invention and desire to protect by Letters Patent is: r

1. A metallic strip havin a' row of attachin devices along eac 1 longitudinal edge, t 1e attaching devices of each row being arranged respectively in transverse alinement with the attaching devices of the other row, said metallic strip also having a row of holes arranged along the longitudinal center of the strip, said holes being arranged in transverse alinementwith the respective spaces between adjacent attaching devices of each row, thereby allowing the strip to be out transversely between adjacent attaching devices of each row in intersection with the corresponding hole to form individual stays .'having a number of attaching devices along opposite longitudinal edges and having end edges provided with a central notch.

2. A metallic strip having a row of holes along each longitudinal edge and a set of prongs extending from the periphery of each hole and forming an attaching device, the holes along opposite longitudinal edges being arranged in transverse alinement, said metallic strip also having a row of smaller holes arranged along the longitudinal center of the strip and corresponding in number to the number of attaching devices in each row, each of said smaller holes being arranged on a transverse line extending at right angles to the longitudinal edges of the' strip and intersecting each longitudinal edge midway between two adjacent attaching devices, whereby the strip may be out along two transverse lines to form a stay having along each longitudinal edge a row of fastening devices and along its short end edges longitudinally projecting members on opposite sides of a central notch and which are bendable into engagement with the material to which the stay is applied.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, at Tompkinsville, S. I., N. Y., on this 26 day of September, 1927.

. HILARION ESCOBALES. 

